Valais national councilor Philipp Matthias Bregy is the new president of the Swiss center. The party delegates elected him on Saturday to succeed Zugois Gerhard Pfister at the head of the party.
The 46 -year -old Naters lawyer (VS) was the only candidate in the running. Since 2019, he has been sitting on the National Council and has been chairing the centrist parliamentary group with federal chambers since 2021. The only candidate in the running, his election was considered a formality.
>> Read also: Philipp Matthias Bregy always closer to the center presidency
In his speech, Philipp Matthias Bregy promised to continue the path drawn up by Gerhard Pfister and continue to develop the center to make it a party of the constructive center and even stronger. His presidency will be “open, direct and open to dialogue,” he said before the delegates.
>> See the interview with Philipp Matthias Bregy in the morning of Friday:
Work by Gerhard Pfister greeted
The current president Gerhard Pfister leaves his post after nine years. Former Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard paid tribute to the outgoing president, believing that he was “the right person at the right time”.
>> Read also: Gerhard Pfister will leave the presidency of the center this summer
Under the chairmanship of the Zugois, the PDC merged with the bourgeois-democratic party (PBD) and changed its name in the center. Gerhard Pfister reoriented the party on the strategic level and opened it to new types of voters, added Doris Leuthard.
![The outgoing president of the Swiss center Gerhard Pfister with his successor Philipp Matthias Bregy, Saturday in Berne. [Keystone - Anthony Anex]](https://img.rts.ch/articles/2025/image/818bkw-28927880.image?mw=1280 "The outgoing president of the Swiss center Gerhard Pfister with his successor Philipp Matthias Bregy, Saturday in Berne. [Keystone - Anthony Anex]")
In his farewell speech, Gerhard Pfister noted that a strong center policy is more important than ever for Switzerland. The polarization increases in Switzerland too. “To this, we oppose a policy of dialogue and respect,” he said.
His party knows how to build bridges, but also takes clear positions and goes ahead with solutions from the political center. He wants to be “carrying a policy focused on the common good”.
ats/edel
